There are three steps expressed by the words "read," "meditate," "act," which it is necessary to take if one would advance in the application of Christian Science to the problems of human living. The modern farmer furnishes an illustration of this sequence. He perhaps provides himself with textbooks dealing with soil conditioning, crop raising, and harvesting, which he peruses diligently. This reading is done that he may adopt a process which, he thinks, will result in the raising of crops with which to feed himself and others. He does not read and perhaps even memorize rules, and then, without further effort, expect to find crops ready to harvest. He knows he has not achieved his objective until he acts. He must work out the rules in practice. To be a successful farmer he must read, meditate, act. Is this process not equally applicable to the student of Christian Science? He must read his textbooks, the Bible and the works of our inspired Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. He must constantly replenish his thought from these sources.
The suppositional opposite to good which is called animal magnetism, would try to operate to prevent all people from reading the word of Truth as set forth in these textbooks. It may then be regarded as a distinct victory over evil for anyone to align himself on the side of those who do read these textbooks. But are the efforts of "the prince of this world" to block our progress ended when we have won the first victory and become readers? It has been said that a student of any subject should devote as much time to meditation on the matter in hand as he does to reading about it. Almost at the beginning of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (Pref., p. vii), Mrs. Eddy makes the statement, "The time for thinkers has come." Not the time for readers only, but the time for thinkers; and who should know how to think intelligently and consistently if not those who base their thinking on the fact revealed in Christian Science that God is ever-present, ever-demonstrable Mind, the only source of all real thought?
Because this is so, and because Christianly scientific thinking not only benefits the thinker but radiates in such a way as to benefit the world, it is evident that evil's opposition to Christ, Truth, would assume many disguises to prevent the reader of the scientific statement of Truth from meditating intelligently on what he has read.
